Father,

We thank you for Jesus. We thank you for him who knew no sin. We thank you that you sent your son. That he humbly took on humanity. That he took on human flesh and as the God man he perfectly obeyed you. He perfectly fulfilled the law. He perfectly lived a righteous life. Never once did a sinful thought cross his mind a sinful desire engage his heart. Never once did his hands commit sinful actions. Never once did his eyes gaze longingly towards sin. Never once did he sin. He knew no sin, and yet you the Father in your perfect plan to save sinners, you made him to be sin. You treated him as sin, our sin that we commit daily. Our minds are constantly filled with thoughts of sin, our hearts are bent towards sin apart from your grace we are guilty of breaking your law. We are guilty of being bent away from you not towards you. Our lives are sin and so we deserve punishment we deserve justice for our sin and yet you made him to be sin on our behalf.

Your word tells us that you were pleased to crush your son on the cross. You placed upon Jesus the penalty for us that in our place as a substitute as he hung upon the cross you poured out your righteous wrath upon him. You treated him as if he were sin itself so that we might become the righteousness of God, so that we could be clothed with the righteousness of Christ that we could take on his robes of righteousness and stand before you not as guilty vile sinners but stand before you as possessing the righteousness of Christ by faith.

We thank you and we praise you that it is in him that we can become the righteousness of God that being united with Christ by faith we can stand before you holy and blameless that we can have eternal life through the sacrificial life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We thank you for that hope that we have.

We thank you that you have brought us together because of the gospel. Through the gospel you have made us a people you have baptized us into this body of Christ. We thank you that the gospel transforms us it changes us that Christ who died for us, he died for us so that we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who died and rose again on our behalf. You've transformed us. You've changed us by your grace so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin but we would practically live out the righteousness which is ours in Christ and you have united us as a people to represent you on this earth united us despite various backgrounds and ethnicities and preferences you have brought us together as one man and we represent you as the body of Christ here on earth. What a privilege what an undeserved opportunity and thank you for bringing William here to become a part of this body. Father help us by your grace to believe the gospel to live out the gospel to demonstrate the work of the gospel in our lives individually and collectively.

Together we pray all these things by your grace and for your glory, amen.